Organic Gardener

Planning and building your garden

Designing your organic garden

A garden can be created and managed organically whatever its shape size or location.

Site assessment: when designing your organic garden there a few basic steps to go through when planning your garden layout.

• Consider soil condition and fertility by inspecting existing vegetation and wet or compacted areas.
• Observe the position of the sun throughout the day, taking into account potential seasonal variations.
• Identify potential environmental issues such as large screening buildings, also identifying positives in regards to the potential visual appeal of your garden.
• Make note of potential hinderences such as cables, pipes, drains etc. Taking particular care with future access issues.

Planning considerations

Any well planned garden should be an extension of the living areas of your house. Balancing functional elements such as washing lines with other areas such as flower beds and vegetable cultivation areas.

Living spaces
A Garden must remain practical as well as visually appealing. Relaxation areas and alike should be placed well away from the house whereas play area for small children are better suited placed within easy view of the house or kitchen window.

Productive areas
Growing your own fruit and vegetables are one of the main reasons for developing an organic garden. If space is a consideration in your garden vegetables, fruits and herbs can be incorporated into existing flower beds and borders. Another decorative touch can be added by lining garden beds with herbs or annual flowers, this also has the added benefit of attracting beneficial insects.

Compost & Recycling
Setting aside an area to compost kitchen and household waste is an essential ingredient to a successful organic garden. Compost bins can eliminate the need for keeping your compost area hidden and out of site. Other composting systems such as worm composting for kitchen scraps can be best located near the kitchen. Autumn leaves stored in sacks can also make great leafmould.

Greenhouses
Greeenhouses are a great way to grow exotic or out of season plants. Several different methods are avaibale from the visually appealing to the functional.

Plant Selection
By choosing the right plants for the growing environment found in your organic garden, and by selecting plants which fit into your garden space you can cut down on watering, feeding, pest and disease control. In a natural environment plants are never artificially watered or fertilised. They obtain all their nutrition from their surroundings. Achieving a balance close to that found in nature is the aim of any Organic garden.

Wildlife
Providing shelter and natural feed for wildlife such as birds and predatory insects can help you maintain a thriving garden free from pests and diseases. A garden designed along the lines of the natural environment, with materials such as mulch, bird attracting plants and thick shrubs for nesting can attract the right wildlife to your garden. Fruiting trees and shrubs such as hawthorns, rowans and crab apples are specific examples of colourful additions to your garden which also act as a vital food source for wildlife.

Design elements

Good garden design involves creating a good structural layout, ensuring your garden will look good in winter as well as summer. The overgrown opulence of summer can be contrasted with the crisp lines and straight paths of winter.

Paths and seating areas
Paths, terraces and paved areas are long term additions to your garden and should be planned with care. Considerations such as the environmental impact of the production of the material should influence the choice of material you use. Reconstituted stone paving slabs, railway sleepers, offcut timber planks are examples of enviro-friendly construction materials.

Windbreaks and screens
Screens provide shelter and privacy to your garden as well as decorative considerations such as creating intriguing garden rooms and hidden areas. Brick walls are more permantent additions and provide solid anchors for climbing plants and trained plants. Hedges and natural screens provide a more attractive option to treated timber fencing, although these can take some time to develop. For a screen to act as an effective windbreak it needs to be around 50% permeable, solid barriers simply divert the wind upward creating turbulence on the other side, This makes hedges ideal in this application.

Design
Principles such as Focus (drawing the eye to an important feature), Scale (avoiding plants out of proportion to your garden), Unity (elements relating in harmony to one and other), Rhythm (Patterns and repeating elements) as well as Contrast ( colour texture and pattern) are all ingredients that go together to produce a well planned, functional and visually appealing Organic Garden.

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• Soil And Soil Care
• Water And Watering
• Pest Control
• Weeds And Weed Control
• Containers And Planters
• Greenhouses And Shadehouses
• Walls, Fences And Screens
• Pavers And Stones
• Lawn And Lawn Care
• Hedges And Windbreaks
• Flowering Plants
• Growing Fruit
• Growing Vegetables
• Growing Herbs